


Searching

by neotwewy



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Kingdom Hearts III Spoilers, Post-Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28007547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neotwewy/pseuds/neotwewy
Summary: Following the events of the battle in the Keyblade Graveyard, as well as Sora's mysterious disappearance, Ventus finds himself in an overwhelming mixed state of emotions. The thought of his vanishing brother couldn't leave his mind, and he decided to take time every night to search for Vanitas; he wanted to believe he was still out there somewhere. Ventus finds himself stumped on where to go next to find Vanitas, and decides to contact a former organization member, Xion, who could possibly help him. He prayed she may be able to help him figure out something about his brother, or at least where he was.Though confused and surprised, Xion converses with him and provides all that she knows about the dark-haired boy.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Searching

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I write a fanfic in a while!!! So please bear with me if there are any mistakes. I really liked the idea of a relationship between Xion and Vanitas considering how similar the two are with being puppets 'n stuff. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the fic!

He wasn’t supposed to be sneaking off during the night.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to, he knew too well. When the blue sky tucked itself to sleep under the blanket of the night, the trio expected the same from each other. It had been so long, ten years to be exact, since they could sleep peacefully together in the castle like this for so many days. Even during their long, tiring search for Sora, who had disappeared mysteriously from Destiny Islands and remains missing to this day, the three found their way to spend and enjoy time together. Yet the worries for recovering someone close who disappeared didn’t stop at Sora only; not for Ventus, at least.

The battle in the Keyblade Graveyard wasn’t just a battle anyone could forget over the course of a few days; it was sure to be on everyone’s mind for a while. However, one of the people it haunted the most was Ventus. It overtook the corners in the teenager’s head and stuck itself to every wall. He found himself remembering that hard-fought battle more than he believed he should, but there was one specific detail that latched onto him the most. It was a detail that screamed louder than the rest of the memories of that battle, so loud to the point where he felt his grip on those other memories slipping away to the point of being forgotten. All he could think about was that boy, wearing the same face as Sora, staring at Ven with an expression to match his. Ven remembered the last words he and his brother exchanged before watching destruction take him. 

  
  


_ “And what you are is darkness?!” He’d yell, frustrated with the decision the dark-haired boy seemed to have settled on. _

_ Ignoring the pain in his dissolving body, Vanitas looked right through Ventus and replied with slight hesitation, yet not obvious enough to pick up at first. “What I am… is darkness.” _

_ Silence befell the two brothers, yet their eyes said it all. In a defeated tone, Ventus responded, “Okay.” _

_ That should have been the end of it. But the pain in Sora’s heart grew; he couldn’t stand watching Vanitas wither away while settling for the worst decision in his eyes. _

_ “How is that okay?! Vanitas!” Sora shouted, earning a small glance from Ventus.  _

_ Despite Sora’s objection, Vanitas only looked up with an unreadable smile on his face. Ventus watched him fade away with a mixture of overwhelming emotions in his heart. He didn’t know what to read these emotions as and instead decided to assume they were caused by their victory. Terra had returned at last; they won.  _

_ (That must be what these emotions are for.) Ventus thought to himself, deciding to hurry over to his friend and forget the events of what just occurred for now. _

It was so like Sora to wish to save everyone, even someone like Vanitas. Ventus thought nothing of it at the time, but after Sora’s disappearance, the thought grew big enough to chase him. It followed him everywhere he went, and he could no longer ignore it. If Sora believed Vanitas still had a chance, then why shouldn’t Ven believe the same? Until now, Ventus didn’t understand why his brother smiled during his last breath. What happiness was there in losing? What joy could he have possibly felt towards  _ vanishing  _ of all things? Was there more Ventus had yet to discover? Did Vanitas truly deserve another chance? And so, his curiosity is what started these nightly routines. Once Aqua, Terra, and Ventus exchanged their goodnights, they’d leave to their rooms to visit slumber. However, the young male had other plans in mind. Once the castle became silence’s victim, he traveled through the halls towards the exit and headed off to other worlds. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this, he knew how upset both Terra and Aqua would be with him. But it came to a point where Ventus  _ had  _ to understand more. He wanted to know more about Vanitas, and what it was that was so worth saving him. Vanitas insisted to stick to darkness until the end, but  _ why?  _

Curiosity led to the opened chest of more emotions in Ventus’s heart as he began to remember what he felt during those moments on the battlefield. He began to recognize and learn emotions and came to the realization that Terra’s return was not the only cause for his unexplainable feelings at the time. With joy to the side, he felt grief. His heart swelled at the sight of Vanitas choosing to cling to the most unfavorable fate in store for him. And it was Sora’s frustration that awakened that in his heart. Those new emotions motivated Ventus further to search for his brother; he didn’t want to believe darkness had taken the other for good this time. Perhaps, his grief lasted until now and he still remained in the stage of denial. But there was something in him that told him otherwise. There was a newborn hope resting in his heart; a warm feeling constantly reassuring him and allowing him to believe Vanitas was out there somewhere. All he had to do was reach deep enough in his heart and let that hope lead him to where he needed to go. But he hadn’t succeeded yet. He didn’t know how to reach as deep down as he needed to. He needed a hint at this point, a clue…  _ something  _ to guide him. And then it hit.

She might know something… right?

He contacted her and asked to meet with her urgently. She might be the only one who could hold some kind of clue to helping Ven find his brother. Of course, there was the risk that she would run off and inform Terra and Aqua of Ventus’s nighttime activities. But he had full faith she wouldn’t do that.

Probably because she worked alongside Vanitas, too.

“You know Twilight Town, right? We can meet at the top of the clocktower. But it’ll have to be at night.” She told him, and Ventus agreed.

It was late at night in Twilight Town, and there the Keyblade wielder was. Ventus stood at where she asked him to be, watching the sight of the stars twinkle as if to greet him. He couldn’t help but smile while sitting down on the edge, gazing at the night sky sleeping above him. He was so drawn into the sight that he almost didn’t hear the footsteps approaching from around the corner of the tower. Turning his head, he grew excited to see the appearance of a short, black-haired female carrying the promise she made to come here. “Xion!”

Xion grinned at his eagerness before taking a few steps and sitting down beside him. “I’m sorry I was a little late. I had to make sure the others were asleep. You should see Axel when he sleeps, he’s a snoring bear!” She giggled. 

Joining her in the quiet laughter, Ventus says, “I can only imagine. It seems pretty in-character for Axel, doesn’t it?”

“It really is.” She agreed. With a relieved sigh, she decides to cut straight to the subject. “So… what did you want to talk to me about?”

Right, he asked to meet with her for a reason. How could he forget already? “I’m sorry if this ends up being a touchy subject for you. If you don’t want to talk about it, I completely understand.” He paused, getting a good look at her suddenly changed expression. It was like she already knew what he was about to ask. Ventus continues. “You worked with Organization XIII, right? Like, the real one.”

“I was there for the fake one too, but yes. I did.” Xion answered in a neutral tone. The light atmosphere she first brought with her had died down now. She wasn’t angry, but she was concerned nonetheless with why he was bringing up the organization now. 

“This means you worked with Vanitas, right?” 

“Vanitas?” She thought for a moment. “To be honest with you, I don’t have every memory from when I worked with the organization. They had me under their influence, so I didn’t have any of my memories from before that. I’m myself now, of course, but because of that broken influence, I have a lot of lost memories from working with them. If you’re looking for information on Vanitas, I don’t know how much I can tell you.” 

Ventus’s eyes dimmed a little at her response. “Oh…” 

The expression on his face jabbed at her heart. She hesitates to continue speaking. “...But I can try, just for you. You clearly want help with something… so let me help. What do you want to know about him?”

Turning his head from Xion to face the sky, he answers her. “I want to know what Vanitas was like… and if there’s any chance he could still be out there.”

“Are you saying you want to  _ find  _ Vanitas?” Her eyes widened. 

“Yes, but please don’t tell Terra or Aqua! Or anyone, really!” He faces her quickly while waving his hands. 

  
  


“I wasn’t planning to, but now you have to tell me why. Where is this suddenly coming from?” Xion tilted her head. 

“I want to understand him better, I guess,” Ventus admitted. “Before he disappeared, he told me he was darkness only, and that was what he was sticking with. I let him be, but Sora, he... he didn’t want to leave him be. He yelled at him, he was  _ frustrated  _ with him, but not in the same way I was. I could tell from his voice and that look in his eyes, he wanted to believe there was still something left for Vanitas. I didn’t understand it at the time, nor did I understand all these weird emotions I got from watching Vanitas disappear. But I realized later on thinking about it,” He lifts his hand and places it on his chest, where his heart rested. “I  _ miss  _ Vanitas. And I wonder what life could have been like for him if he had gone to live with us instead of with Xehanort. I don’t know what he experienced or what he endured, but if the roles were reversed… if Xehanort took me instead and left Vanitas with Master Eraqus, I could have turned out to be just like him, and he would have been like me.”

She listened to him carefully and waited until he finished speaking before she could give her input. “I agree with you.”

“Huh?”

“There’s more to Vanitas than what he showed us. I think if he had gone to be with someone better than Xehanort, he would have ended up like you. But he was made to be a puppet, just like me.” Following those words, Xion looked down and mumbled barely loud enough for Ventus to hear, “I get it now.”

Tilting his head, he asks, “Get… what now?”

“You want to know more about Vanitas, right? I’ll tell you what I can.” She said with a determined look on her face that lasted only for a few seconds. She thought deeply for a moment, looking for something from the small bits of the memories she possessed working for the organization. She tried hard to remember whatever she could until it finally hit. Her eyes lit up, and Ventus noticed right away. 

“Did you remember something?”

“Vanitas…” She started. “He was distant and cold. He didn’t like talking to the other members. He’d show up at whatever meetings needed to be called, but he never spoke unless it was something related to you. He really  _ really  _ wanted to find you. I rarely saw him without his hood on. It always seemed like he wanted to hide away from everyone. He just didn’t like us. At the time, I thought nothing of it, because I was in a similar state. I was broken, quiet… I felt nothing. I just did whatever the organization told me to do. But something happened before the battle at the graveyard.”

“Something?”

“We were getting ready to head out soon. I remember walking by Vanitas, and he said something to me. That was the first time he had ever spoken to me.”

“What did he say?!” Ventus asked, feeling on edge now.

Xion shut her eyes while repeating his words. “Don’t forget.”

“Don’t forget?” He says back, confused.

“Yes.” Her lips curve into a small smile. The memory warmed her heart. “I didn’t understand it at the time of course, because I wasn’t me. The only reason I caught onto it was because that was the very first time Vanitas had ever directly said something to me. But he played it off and acted as nothing happened. When the battle at the graveyard began, his words rang in the back of my head and I felt weird. It felt like I was forgetting something important, something buried deep in my heart. I didn’t know what it was at first until I watched Xemnas hurt Axel. That’s when the forgotten treasure I was trying to figure out became more familiar to me. I didn’t know why, but at that point, I had to stop Xemnas from hurting Axel. And when I did, he told me to destroy Axel. I don’t know why I acted the way I did at that moment, but I was ready to act the order out until Sora stopped me. It wasn’t until he called out my name that I suddenly began to remember. It hurt a lot, but they all came back to me.”

“They?” He questioned.

“My memories.” She looked at him. “Even during the pain at that moment, I understood Vanitas’s words well. ‘Don’t forget,’ as in don’t forget what’s important to me. Sora helped, but Vanitas was the spark I needed to remember Roxas and Axel, and the life I lived with them before.”

“Vanitas…” Ventus returned his gaze towards the eyes of the moon and clenched his fists that were pressed against the material he sat on. “I don’t get it. He helped you, but he still chose darkness in the end? How is that fair?!” He raised one of his fists and punched a spot beside him. It took a few seconds before he released the grip of his fists while a realization slapped him. He understood now why Sora acted the way he did. In the end, there was hope after all for Vanitas. Ventus was just too blindfolded by the grudge he held to see that. 

“I don’t know much about Vanitas, but I think him helping me was a sign.” Another determined expression plastered onto her face as she stares directly into Ven. This time, the expression remained. “He wanted to be saved. Somewhere deep down, he still wanted someone to be there for him.”

“But at the same time, those feelings clash with what he told me before he disappeared. He said he chose darkness-”

“That was his way of saying he didn’t deserve to be saved… I think.” Xion speculated. “Vanitas wanted someone to be there for him, but I think he didn’t know how to handle that kind of approach. So in the end, he settled with disappearing.”

At that point, the wind had begun gently brushing through the two teens’ hair as they stared at each other. “Vanitas ...smiled,” said Ventus all of a sudden.

“What?”

“He smiled before he faded away and said he chose darkness, but he still helped you. What if, in his eyes, vanishing was the only way he thought he could be saved? What if he didn’t think there was any other method worth using to save him, and disappearing was his way of escaping?”

“...Do you still really think he’s alive, Ven?” Xion suddenly asked with sincerity in her eyes. 

Before this conversation, if Xion asked, Ventus wouldn’t have known what to say. He would have hesitated to answer. His motivation had been dying over time as he aimlessly searched for his supposedly deceased brother. Xion was his only hope, and that was why he reached out to her. Now that he had talked with her, Ventus knew his answer. With glittering eyes, he answered the girl with a strong tone of certainty. 

“I do.”

The wind picked up once again at that moment. It felt like it was on purpose at this point to add a dramatic effect to the moment. Nonetheless, Xion’s gentle smile returned once again with a relief showing in her eyes. “I’m so glad to hear that.”

“You are?” Ven’s expression suddenly went blank.

The slim girl slowly stood up. Ventus watched her for a few seconds before feeling the need to copy her. The two figures now stood under the moonlight and watched with peaceful expressions. A quietness roamed the air alongside the whispers of the wind, and it kept that way until Xion finally looked at Ventus and spoke.

“Ven, please let me help you find your brother.”

“What!?” He turned his head to her quickly. 

“I owe it to him. If he hadn’t helped me remember my friends, I’m not sure if Sora would have succeeded to be the final key to unlocking my memories. Even if he had managed to pull it off, I fear it would have been too late already. I want to thank Vanitas, and show him that there are better fates than darkness. He and I were both created for the same purpose: to be a living puppet for the organization. I don’t think it’s any fair that I’m the one who got to experience a happy ending, and he didn’t… even though we’re two sides of the same coin. So while we’re searching for Sora… please let me help you search for Vanitas.”

Ventus couldn’t believe what he was hearing from Xion at the moment. He came up here to talk with her, but he wasn’t expecting a sudden allyship to be formed with her. This could be what he needed though in order to find his lost brother. Wearing a smile on his face, he held his hand out to Xion. “As long as you don’t tell anyone about this- especially Terra or Aqua- I’ll be more than happy to have your help.” 

Xion reaches her hand out too, connecting it with Ven’s for a handshake to solidify this new partnership between them. “I’m quiet as long as you’re quiet.”

With a new wave of confidence in both their hearts, they turn to the moon again while breaking the handshake. Ventus then softly mumbled to himself words only he could hear, yet felt they could still reach his brother.

“Hang on, Vanitas. We’re coming.” 


End file.
